MIKOLAJ'S MONTHLY MAUNDER
Insights and inspiration for your leadership journey!
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Inspiration and lessons for your leadership journey! “Keep in mind that the essence of being a human being is to be able to create something.” Creating something is in and of itself rewarding. Whether you’re creating a meal, a clean house, a customer’s experience, a powerful lesson plan, a high-performing team, or an amazing relationship, we humans love creating. And when we collaborate together, we create some of the most amazing things! But what about your state of being? Our state of being drives our choices and actions; it affects our physiology; and, it creates our habits – all for better or worse. Cumulatively, over time, this is who we become – it is who we are. Think about where you are right now in your life – your health, the education you have, the job you hold, where you live, the state of your relationships, your religion and/or spirituality – all are in some way due to the thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and decisions you had or were given to you at some point in the past. Your state of being also defines who you are as a leader and as a person. Most of the time we simply walk around in ‘default’ mode, responding with old programming, thinking patterns, and emotions that may or may not be serving us and/or others in the best way. In A Travel Guide to Leadership I share with you some powerful ways that will help you create the state of being you desire. Instead of asking yourself, “What do I do?” Start by asking yourself: How do I 'be'? While whatever it is you create in your different roles at work, home, and elsewhere is important, who you are – your state of being – determines the quality of your creations. So, create something else, first. Create you. If you like this week's blog, I encourage you to share it with your family, friends, and colleagues and join me on my journey to empower and inspire millions of people around the globe. Together we can spread words of Encouragement, Inspiration, Empowerment, and Loving Leadership... and wouldn't you agree our world could use a little more "Positivity" these days? Together we can make a difference... Have an amazing journey today! Alan
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Inspiration and lessons for your leadership journey! “It is better to travel well than to arrive.” How satisfied are you with your life? How happy are you from day to day? If I were to ask you, “Is your predominant state of being more positive or negative?” How would you answer? Many years ago, it didn’t feel good to be me. I had happy, even ecstatic moments; but, my overwhelming state of being was pretty miserable. I had an idea of where and what I wanted and I was definitely moving in that direction, but I wasn’t traveling very well. Overall, the journey wasn’t fun, exciting, joyful, or inspiring. That has all changed dramatically! I have achieved a new, sustainable happiness – and you can, too! The challenge isn’t so much about ‘getting’ the right job or things or people or wealth in your life (although I admit, they can definitely help), it’s really about you. Research shows that the circumstances of our lives only contribute about 10% to our happiness and genetics or a ‘set-point range’ about 50 percent. That leaves 40% of the determinants of your happiness to intentional activity – what you choose to think and do.  High School basketball coach, Peter Morales, in El Paso, Texas and an opposing team mate, Jonathan Montonyas, had some ideas about creating happiness, too. Check out today’s video and find out what many sport organizations (and businesses) have lost about what it means ‘to win.’ You can also check out Chapter 4, The Highway of Happiness, in A Travel Guide to Leadership. Let’s focus this week on making it more about the journey than the destination. Let’s travel well. If you like this week's blog, I encourage you to share it with your family, friends, and colleagues and join me on my journey to empower and inspire millions of people around the globe. Together we can spread words of Encouragement, Inspiration, Empowerment, and Loving Leadership... and wouldn't you agree our world could use a little more "Positivity" these days? Together we can make a difference... Have an amazing journey today! Alan Inspiration and lessons for your leadership journey!  “Somehow we’ve allowed our relationship to gadgets and things to overtake our real-world ties. We’ve forgotten how to rescue each other.” Our quote today comes from this year’s commencement address at The Harker School, an elite private school in Silicon Valley. The interesting back-story to the electrifying speech is that the students voted on who would give the address. What’s interesting about their choice? At the age of 25 Nipun Mehta walked away from a lucrative career in high-tech, to dedicate his life to being a “volunteer.” He has been called the ‘antithesis of self-serving.’ His comments centered around giving, receiving, and generosity. What he said to the graduates could be directed at any of us. For example, just the other day, we were having dinner at a restaurant. At the table next to us were a couple and their very young child having dinner, too. He couldn’t have been any older than five or six. And there he was, playing a video game on a cell phone (for all around to hear) almost the entire dinner. I’m not sure he even ate. It was without a doubt, not the best example of “quality time.” Unfortunately, we all experience situations like this more and more all the time. Nipun said that “we live in an era where Facebook has spawned 150 billion “connections,” as we collectively shell out 4.5 billion likes on status updates, every single day.” And yet, despite the incredible power of our cell phones, iPads, and computers, we risk isolating ourselves from each other and could be teaching our children to isolate themselves, as well. The question isn’t whether using the internet and gadgets are inherently destructive to our relationships and well-being, but, “What is the quality of our relationships?” (In fact, research shows that for most people, the internet has a positive effect on well-being. The caution: one study indicates that if you are already having problems psychosocially, internet use will only make it worse.) We are born to connect and belong – to be in relationship. And, it is relationships that make organizations – whether the organization is the simple dyad of a marriage or the complex web of relationships in a large business or institution. Stephen Covey says, “An organization is made up of individuals that have a relationship and a shared purpose” [italics in the original]. In the opening quote to Chapter 7-Relationships, in in A Travel Guide to Leadership, Ben Stein gets it right on: “Personal relationships are the fertile soil from which all advancement, all success, all achievement in real life grows.” At work, healthy relationships are associated with all kinds of positive outcomes including group cohesion, productivity, job performance, and well-being. An employee’s relationship with the leader, their boss, can be the single most important relationship at work. The opposite of that, social isolation, is destructive. In addition to the loss of the enriching experiences and growth that relationships give us, the research clearly demonstrates that social isolation predicts mortality from all causes. Our relationships with each other are crucial to our well-being and success. Show your love; don’t just say it. Build your real-world ties today. If you like this week's blog, I encourage you to share it with your family, friends, and colleagues and join me on my journey to empower and inspire millions of people around the globe. Together we can spread words of Encouragement, Inspiration, Empowerment, and Loving Leadership... and wouldn't you agree our world could use a little more "Positivity" these days? Together we can make a difference... Have an amazing journey today! Alan Inspiration and lessons for your leadership journey! “Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets.” Have you ever watched a basketball player trying to make a free throw with all of the fans shaking foam fingers, signs, etc. and screaming at the top of their lungs? Or, how about a visiting team’s field goal kicker in a football game trying to kick the winning field goal? It truly amazes me how these players can focus and concentrate on a target in the midst of such mayhem. That skill was developed over thousands of hours of practice and playing many a game as a visiting team member. The analogy between the basketball player at the free throw line and you working on achieving your goals can be a very helpful reminder. Sometimes we’re also faced with all kinds of noise and distractions. That’s why I emphasized and explained mission, vision, purpose, and goals in A Travel Guide to Leadership. Goals help you focus on what you need to do now in order to get where you want in the future. In the book I show you methods to help you do that. In today’s video, Tony Robbins also talks about some of these techniques. One thing that will add power to your efforts is not to focus on too many things at once – sometimes hard to do in our culture. One proven method to help you prioritize things, is Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix (pictured below). If you’ve never seen or heard of this before, I encourage you to research it. He writes about it in both The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and First Things First and there is plenty online about it. I encourage you to add more power to your life today and every day by concentrating your energies on a limited set of targets. You can do it!  If you like this week's blog, I encourage you to share it with your family, friends, and colleagues and join me on my journey to empower and inspire millions of people around the globe. Together we can spread words of Encouragement, Inspiration, Empowerment, and Loving Leadership... and wouldn't you agree our world could use a little more "Positivity" these days? Together we can make a difference... Have an amazing journey today! Alan |
Alan Mikolaj
Alan Mikolaj is a a professional, experienced, positive, and passionate speaker, leadership and organizational development consultant, change agent, author, and coach. He holds his Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology from Sam Houston State University. He is a certified graduate coach from Coaching Out of the Box and holds his ACC and membership with the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Impactful change starts with a conversation! Schedule your free, one-hour session by clicking here: Discovery Conversation with Alan
Or call or email: Contact Page 
In his third book, A Travel Guide to Leadership, Alan offers you simple, fundamental, and powerful lessons that have the power to transform you, your relationships, and your career.
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